5 Things Every Modern Dental Back Office Should Have in 2016

These five things will support your practice in making this year the most productive and efficient yet. Save time and money while increasing the efficiency of dentists, hygienists and admin staff by adopting these tools and practices.

Dental practice management software that is easy to use.
Investing in an affordable and accessible SaaS-based (Software as a Service) application enables a practice to be up and running on its new system in record time. A cloud-based dental management system comes without the large costs that come with cumbersome traditional software solutions.

Have a complete digitized odontogram.
While many current solutions have decent scheduling solutions none have detailed and relevant odontograms that doctors like to use. So dentists continue to use paper charts while using scheduling solutions for their staff at a hefty price. A quality EHR system should include efficient, accurate and user-friendly exam features which make performing dental charting quick and simple..

The ability to customize and personalize treatment plans and progress notes.
Many doctors struggle with their current systems as each dentist has their personalized way of documenting their patient care process. It’s important to find a solution that lets the dentist personalize their treatment plans and progress notes. Look for a system that allows the user to plan and execute treatments, enter progress notes, invoice, submit claims and coordinate their patients’ care.

The ability to share securely.
Many dental specialists still mail and fax patient reports to their referring doctors, which often leads to confusion and delayed or missing information. It is much more secure, accurate and accessible to have patient information and electronic dental records stored in the cloud where they can be shared securely via HIPAA-compliant password protected access. An encrypted transfer process enables multiple offices to collaborate on a single file and can provide patients with access as well.It is particularly important for specialists, periodontist, endodontists and oral surgeons to have access to secure file sharing as they regularly report to their referring doctors on patient procedures. When this is done via email reports are often late due to the shear volume of files that need to be processed in each practice. With the proper software, dentists are able to seamlessly and securely share documents while keeping track of communications.

A fully integrated mobile solution.
For an ideal workflow, the software and devices used in the practice need to be fully integrated with the practice management system as gaps in software integration can quickly lead to fractured and inefficient processes. There are many software vendors who offer partial solutions for dentists that utilize tablets in their practice. However, this often requires the dentist to piece together various applications that do not communicate efficiency, leading to lost information and confusion. Look for a dental practice software that supports the way dentists work while guiding them through an efficient workflow process. A quality integrated mobile solution can be used across various devices and enables dental offices to go paperless by capturing clinical information in a standardized, intuitive manner and streamlining documentation processes including medical history and insurance claims.

About Dovetail: Dovetail is an easy-to-use, cloud-based EHR and practice management solution that enables dentists to document the patient care process on any mobile or desktop device. As a customizable system built with the dentist in mind, Dovetail makes the transition easy by being an easy-to-use, personalized system that allows sharing and collaboration and results in savings of time and money while increasing efficiency in the office.